The invention pertains to a suspension type conveyor for transporting material which hangs on a hook in a suspended fashion, in particular garments which hang on coat hangers, with trolleys that are suspended on a rail, transport the material along this rail and are provided with carrying rods on which the hooks are suspended, with at least one descending discharging rod which borders with its upper end laterally on the moving path of the trolley carrying rods and by which means the material slides off under the influence of gravity, and with a transfer device for transferring the material transported by the trolleys, whereby said transport device comprises a transfer finger which is arranged at the upper end of the discharging rod, may be moved against the carrying rod of the respective trolley situated in a transfer position such that it engages underneath the hook and is provided with an ascending ramp section in such a way that the hooks which move over said ascending ramp section are released from the carrying rods.
Such suspension type conveyor serves for transferring garments onto a discharging rod at certain locations. Here, the transfer from the rail and/or distribution track to the corresponding discharging rods is carried out by means of a transfer device. The material slides on the discharging rods which have a descending section to another rod section situated at a lower elevation which, for example, may be a collection point, or the material is conveyed additionally to a different distribution track.
The transport of the material suspended on the hooks is carried out by means of trolleys, the carrying rods of which are designed for accommodating a row of, for example, garments which are hanging on coat hangers, whereby the discharging rods with their transfer devices cooperate with the carrying rods of the trolleys in such a way that the material may be transferred without obstructions.
A suspension type conveyor of the type mentioned initially is disclosed in German Patent No. DE 3,807,280 C1. In this known conveyor, the finger of the transport device is constructed in one piece with the carrying rod, namely as a linear extension of it. In addition, the transfer device comprises a towing conveyor which may be displaced parallel to the finger, takes hold of the hooks of the coat hangers arriving on the tip of the finger due to the continuous transport movement of the trolleys, and transfers these hooks to the descending section of the discharging rod via the ascending ramp section of the finger. The finger of the transfer device of this conveyor always is situated directly adjacent to the moving path of the trolley carrying rods, so that this particular transfer device may only be utilized for special trolleys, the ends of which are not equipped with any laterally projecting connecting devices, e.g., coupling components.
One development of this known suspension type conveyor is described in German Patent No. DE 3,934,995 C1. According to this publication, the transfer conveyor cooperates with the finger and may be pivoted laterally out of the moving path of the trolley carrying rods together with the discharging rod and the finger which is rigidly connected to it, so that it is also possible to utilize trolleys, the ends of which are equipped with laterally protruding coupling components.
The transfer devices in both of the suspension type conveyors described previously are constructed in a very complicated fashion and/or are limited to certain types of trolleys and are only suitable for relatively slow transport speeds.
The present invention is based on the objective of creating a suspension type conveyor of the type mentioned initially, the transfer device of which is designed in a very simple fashion and ensures a transfer which is adapted to an increased conveying capacity without obstructions.